Where Footsteps May Lead
by FlyingTackle
Summary: Sasuke leaves, Naruto is devastated. But things aren't always what they seem. ShikaNaru High School AU
1. Prologue: Footsteps

**A/N**- Hi! This is my second fanfic that I've posted, though it holds much more promise than the first. It's ShikaNaru, I found the pairing once while browsing through the site and really liked it. I guess I'm still partial to SasuNaru, but I loved this idea I got. Credit goes to my best friend Meggie for thinking of the title! I don't know how long the story will be, but I'm aiming for over 15 chapters...all right, that's enough from me, let's get on with the story!

**Disclaimer**- I don't own any of the rights to Naruto, not making money off this, blah blah blah...

**Warnings**- Shounen-ai/Yaoi, angst, fluff, and the possibility of SPAZ moments. Footsteps May Lead 

**Prologue- **_Footsteps_

Two sets of footsteps sounded across the empty path, tiny dust clouds conjured by each footfall. The first pair of feet moved with a burdened sort of grace; normally purposeful strides were weighed down with grief. The other's were lighter and moved uncertainly, hesitantly. The first pair faltered and came to a complete stop, and the other followed suit.

"Sasuke...why did you ask me to come here?" Ocean-blue orbs turned skyward, questioning the other's obsidians.

The boy in question closed his eyes, shaking his head in response. When he opened them, they were filled with an emotion Naruto couldn't recognize. His own azure pools lighted with confusion and worry, but he quickly shoved the feeling back. "Hey..." He put on his usual foxy grin. "Come on, bastard, stop acting like such a wierdo!" He made to punch the boy playfully on the shoulder, but Sasuke caught his hand. He focused his charcoal-black eyes on the other's again, trying in vain to communicate what he couldn't say. Confusion sprung up yet again in his still-childlike features.

"What's going on? Sasuke?" The boy in question didn't answer, and Naruto's eyes widened as Sasuke pulled him into a hug. "Hey!" He started struggling, but stopped when he felt the taller boy shaking. "What's wrong with you...?" He questioned, and as an answer he was held tighter. "Please, Sasuke...let me go...you're scaring me..."

Immediately, the older boy released him as if he were burned. He turned his face away, but not before Naruto saw that it was streaked with tears. "I'm sorry..." he whispered.

"Sorry for what? What are you trying to tell me?" A hint of panic was evident in Naruto's voice now.

"I-I can't..." was his only answer. The younger reached out for his friend, grabbing his hand, but Sasuke turned around so his face couldn't be seen. He turned his head sideways, and Naruto had to lip-read to know what he was saying. "Goodbye..."

Naruto gasped, shaking his head frantically, holding his companion's hand tighter. "No..no, no, no...NO!" His only true friend couldn't leave him, not now!

Sasuke bowed his head, a sad smile resting on his delicate features. "I'm sorry...Naruto..."

And he walked away.

His hand slipped from Naruto's now limp features, leaving him standing alone, one of his arms stretched in front of him as though it would convince the other to come back. He stood there, paralyzed, for what seemed like hours. When he came to his senses, a strangled cry was torn from his throat. He started running in the direction Sasuke had departed, but it was in vain.

He was gone. Silent tears spattered the ground, falling thick and fast from his blue eyes. As he stood there, the golden glow seemed to drip from the ends of his hair, the azure shine fell from his eyes with the tears.

And as he walked home that day, a thought passed through his mind. It was such a normal thought that later Naruto believed it must have come from somewhere else, perhaps it had just taken a rest inside his numb mind. Nevertheless, the ludicrously mundane thought was painfully true. _There's only one set of footsteps now._


	2. I: Led to a Chance Meeting

**A/N**- Wow, thanks for the support, guys! I'm not going to take up space listing everybody who reviews here, but if you say something worth mentioning I will. Otherwise all the reviews will be replied to individually (which I think is better anyway). Shika comes into this chapter, yay! It just gives some insight and background on the story, setting, etc. Uhm, I'll try to keep it as interesting as possible...well, enjoy!

**Disclaimer**- It's not mine, Naruto and all its rights belong to Kishimoto-sama.

**Warnings**- Nothing new.

**Song I Had On While I Was Writing This**- Life Is Like a Boat by Rie Fu (yep, from Bleach! hee hee)

-woo.hoo.it.is.my.line.of.doom.and.it.will.crush.you.all.with.piles.of.ooey.gooey.shikanaru.goodness.yaaaaaaaaaaaay-

**Where Footsteps May Lead**

**Chapter I- **_Led to a Chance Meeting_

Naruto watched his breath form clouds in the air as he walked home from school. It wasn't snowy yet, but the air would soon be cold enough. The breeze wafting through the trees had a sharp edge to it, and Naruto stuffed his hands into the pockets of his black jeans to shield them from the cold.

He stopped paying attention to where he was going, and out of habit took a turn from the road onto the little path he often used as a shortcut. He halted, his breath hitching in his throat. He had been avoiding this place for the past week, ever since-- he angrily scrubbed away the tears that welled up in his eyes, ignoring the feelings of pain and hurt that rose from the recesses of his mind where he had been keeping them locked away. But they didn't ask for permission. The feelings he had been suppressing flooded his mind as tears sprung up unbidden yet again. Naruto couldn't take all the pain at once, and ran as fast as he could from the place that now held one of his worst memories.

Until now, he had been able to lock away his feelings and hide behind the numbness that was left, but after seeing that place again...his body was racked with sobs as he ran, and he was forced to stop when he was unable to see through his tears. He slumped to the ground and cried; when he was done the sun had sunk so it was touching the horizon. _I...I've got to get home...Iruka-nii will be worried... _He forced himself to get up and walk along the path towards his home. There was a clearing up ahead; it was only about a half-mile from there.

He ducked under the overhanging branch that barred the way into the desolate meadow. The flowers that usually filled the area with colorful blooms were all going into winter-mode-- the flower petals were wilting in some places, and in others had fallen to the ground. Naruto was about to pass through the clearing he had seen so many times before without a second glance, but had to stop and do a double-take. There was a person laying among the tall yet brown blades of grass. Naruto carefully edged closer, and upon closer inspection discovered that the person was Shikamaru Nara, the genius from his class.

Shikamaru cracked an eye open, looking for the person who dared interrupt him whilst he was sleeping. It was a blond kid, and he was staring at Shikamaru as though he had just sprung from one of the dying flowers. His face was dirty, and he looked as though he had been crying a good deal. _Wait...I think I know this kid. He's the one that hung out with Uchiha, before he up and disappeared... _He closed his eyes again and rested his head back onto his hands. "What are you looking at?" he questioned.

Naruto stood there dumbly. _What am I...looking at? _

Shikamaru sighed. "Are you just going to stand there?" When he got no response, he sat up and continued, "You're Naruto, right? From school," He quirked his eyebrow impatiently as he waited for a response.

"From school...?" The word seemed so out of place, like he hadn't heard it for years. He recieved an annoyed nod, and mirrored the action slowly, coming out of his haze. "Uh...sorry for staring...I've never seen you around here before..."

_What's with this guy? _thought Shikamaru. "I've only come to this spot twice...why does it matter?" He was seriously beginning to wonder why he was still talking to this kid.

Naruto sniffed, partly due to both the cold and to the fact that he had been crying. "No...it doesn't matter...sorry for staring..." he said, and as suddenly as he had come, Naruto began walking away.

"Hey!" Shikamaru called after him, remembering something. Naruto turned around, though his eyes showed no real curiosity. "Happy Birthday..." he said, an arm reaching up to rest on the back of his neck as he breifly thought of earlier that day when their homeroom teacher Iruka had called the same thing after him. Naruto's eyes widened a fraction, but immediately settled back into that unsettling expression of hopelessness. He gave a tiny ghost of a smile that didn't spread to his eyes, and even then it appeared to cost him great effort.

"Thanks," he said, and turned to continue on his way, leaving a confused Shikamaru in his wake.

-hi.how.are.ya.i'm.good.thanks.for.asking.and.i.can't.think.of.anything.to.say.so.bye-

**A/N**- Well, there's the first chapter...sorry it's so short, but I figure once the story gets going it'll be easier for me to make long chapters. Hokay, so I'm going to try and start updating on a weekly basis, so you'll get a new chapter every Friday or Saturday...I'll make it a priority not to miss a week, so if I do just know I have a good reason! Ugh...it's 3:35 am, but I don't think it would have turned out as good if I had waited...well, I was satisfied with it. By the way, everything I type is fresh from my word processor, completely un-beta-ed by either human or computer, excluding myself. So any mistakes are on me. I think I got them all...I'm a stickler for grammar, so you probably won't find many mistakes after my obsessive combing (my friends say I have OCD...-shrugs-) Wowie, this is a long rambley note. Heh, bye now, I need sleep!


	3. II: Measured Steps

A/N- Hey, it's been a while, hasn't it? Hope you enjoy. :]

* * *

Chapter II - Measured Steps

.~*~.

Shikamaru grumbled for the entire five minutes it took him to drive to school. Who wouldn't be a little testy after waking up to a pre-menopausal woman equipped with a frying pan?

His best friend, Chouji, was waiting for him in front of the building, the ever-present bag of chips clutched in one pudgy hand. "You're late again!" he called out with a smug grin on his face. "What was the hold up this time?"

Shikamaru grunted as he fell into step beside his friend, pushing the front door open. "Just the usual—I woke up with strictly enough energy to throw my alarm clock out the window, fell back asleep and woke up to my extremely pissy mother ushering me out of the house with a few choice cooking utensils," he said, ticking off the events on his fingers as he voiced them. Chouji snorted and shook his head.

The two walked into first period and received the usual glare from their teacher, Iruka. He chewed his lip irritably as they meandered to their seats, showing no particular hurry while the class waited, stifling yawns tiredly.

"Shikamaru, Chouji. I believe that is the fifth tardy for you both this semester. I'd appreciate it if you both stayed after class to see me. Also, I'm sure you remember that food is not allowed in class." Iruka said, maintaining his patient demeanor flawlessly.

Chouji answered with a discontented hmph, stuffing as many chips into his mouth as would fit before reluctantly throwing the rest into the waste basket. Shikamaru was already falling asleep. Iruka fought back the urge to say something un-teacher-like and continued the lecture he had begun before the interruption. The remainder of the hour passed uneventfully—not that anything very eventful ever happened during first period history.

Shikamaru rose from his half-sleep as the bell was ringing and began gathering his things. He headed toward Iruka-sensei s desk, looking effectively unenthusiastic about anything in particular. He could hear Chouji s lumbering footsteps behind him as he stood expectantly in front of Iruka's desk, adjusting the strap on his shoulder bag. Iruka leaned backward in his desk, folding his arms. "I checked my computer, and found that I was wrong. Today was actually the _sixth_ tardy for you both. Shikamaru, I've been letting this slide longer than I'm supposed to because of your immaculate grades. And Chouji, you so many detentions for having food in class that I just didn't bother," He sighed. "but I can't just ignore the fact that school has barely been in session for a month, and you've already exceeded five tardies."

Shikamaru was getting bored. "If you give us an entire lecture about our detentions, we're going to be late for second period as well."

Iruka flushed and sat up quickly. "Of course," he said, handing them each a detention slip. Shikamaru memorized what his said, dropping it in the garbage on his way out.

.~*~.

A sigh escaped Naruto's lips as he walked through the cafeteria, looking for an empty table. There was one left, and he dropped his tray onto it with a clatter.

He was picking at his food—some sort of multicolored mixture that smelled faintly of cheese—when someone set their tray down across from him. Naruto looked up in surprise—_who would sit with me?—_and saw Kiba Inuzuka. He smiled at Naruto awkwardly, getting a sense of what he was thinking by the look on his face. "Oi, mind if I sit here? Everywhere else is full," he explained.

_Oh_. Naruto shook his head. Kiba sat down, staring at his own food for a moment before wrinkling his nose and pushing it away. He put his elbows on the table, resting his chin in his hands. A few awkward moments passed, both of them not speaking and with nothing to listen to but the dull roar of the cafeteria. All the while, Kiba kept throwing glances at his silent companion, trying to figure out what was wrong with him.

_Is he really the same Naruto? I've never seen him quiet longer than five minutes, and he actually looks sad. He doesn't seem like the same guy at all._ He knew Naruto used to hang around with Sasuke a lot, but could that really be it? When all of his fan girls had thrown a fit at his absence, they were told that he had just transferred to a different school. It wasn't like they couldn't talk anymore.

"Hey, Naruto..." Kiba began hesitantly. Naruto looked up, a thin film of obviously fake curiosity on his face. "Uh, I don t want to sound rude or anything, but, well...what the hell is wrong with you?"

He looked down briefly, blinking his eyes rapidly. His mouth opened a crack, and Kiba could hear him draw a ragged breath. Then his head snapped up, a sickeningly false grin plastered across his face. "What are you talking about, dog-breath? There's nothing wrong with me!" His voice was so enthusiastic; it was kind of scary.

Kiba's expression was humorously bewildered. _What the hell?_

Naruto looked at him with squinting eyes, leaning forward and poking him with a fork. "Hey, did you choke?" he demanded. Kiba gaped a moment longer, but managed to compose himself a bit

.

He shook his head, waving off the dog-breath comment and the invasive fork out of the kindness of his own heart. The bell rang, barely audible among the sea of conversation. Kiba stood, glad of an opportunity to leave. "Maybe I'll get you to tell me tomorrow," he said, tipping the untouched contents of his tray into a trash can.

Naruto stayed put, his face frustrated. _I guess I haven't been good enough at acting._

.~*~.

"Iruka-nii! Iruuuuuukaaaaa!!!!!" Naruto shouted flamboyantly, catching up to his slightly irritated guardian.

He turned around, giving Naruto his usual exasperated glare. "How many times must I tell you? In public, you are to call me Iruka-_sensei,_"

"Right, anyway, are we heading out now?" Naruto asked impatiently. Iruka shook his head.

"Sorry, Naruto, but I've got detention duty today. I'll be here for another hour, so you'll just have to find something to do until then." Naruto opened his mouth to object, but Iruka gave him a stern look.

When Naruto got home the night before, his guardian had thrown a fit. From now on, Naruto was_ "not allowed to walk home from school. This is the second time you've tempted me to call in a search party so I just can't trust you to get here before dark!" _Naruto rolled his eyes at the memory. He had just turned sixteen, not six. However, he didn't feel like arguing, seeing as he never could win with that man, he just walked beside him in silence.

When the two entered Iruka's classroom, Shikamaru was already there waiting, looking bored. Naruto was surprised to see him. It must have shown on his face, because Shikamaru glanced at him and nodded.

Naruto walked to a desk at the back of the room and pulled out a spiral notebook, hoping the other boy wouldn't say anything about the day before.

* * *

A/N- Ugh. Short again, sorry. But at least it's something.


	4. A note from the author

Sorry to those watching this story; this is not an update. But don't go storming off just yet! If anyone has looked at my profile, it says that I plan to completely re-do this story. So, I think I'll finally be getting around to that sometime in the near future. The plot will probably change pretty dramatically (although there are only a couple chapters so I guess nobody would really be able to tell the difference yet), but still have the same ideas – Sasuke leaves and doesn't come back, and this is a story about Naruto rebuilding his life.

The reason I'm redoing it is because, looking back, I'm utterly disgusted with how OOC the characters are. A lot of changes need to be made and honestly, I was being way too dramatic. But that's what you get from a 13-year-old, I guess. Or however old I was. I'm 17 now, so hopefully a little better!

So with taking down old chapters and posting new ones over them, I don't know how many alerts that will send people. Sorry if anyone gets spammed.

And no, I don't know EXACTLY when I'll have this re-written and ready to continue, but it'll be soon. Or soon for me at least, meaning by the end of the month-ish. See you then!


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